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2016 ISDVMA Biennial Conference | ISDVMA

Welcome to Bloomington, Minnesota’s third-largest city and southerly suburb of the great Twin Cities of Saint Paul and Minneapolis. This year’s 13th Biennial ISDVMA Meeting and Symposium is going to be the best yet. Our meeting headquarters will be at the elegant Radisson-Blu Hotel in Bloomington, a hospitality destination that is both luxurious and trendy. With over 500 guest rooms, the towering Radisson-Blu offers free WiFi, an indoor pool and fitness center, and the exclusive Minnesota-inspired Fire Lake Grill House & Cocktail Bar, designed for Experiential Dining. Remember to mention your association with the ISDVMA meeting to receive your lodging discount when you book your rooms.

The Radisson-Blu physically adjoins the incomparable Mall of America, the largest indoor entertainment and shopping center in America and one of the top tourist destinations in the World! How large is the Mall of America? If you spent only ten minutes shopping at each of the more than 520 stores, it would take you over 86 hours (over 3 ½ days) of continuous round-the-clock shopping to see every merchant! And, that’s not counting the restaurants (over 50 of them); or the movie theatres (14 screens in all, including the amazing D-Box motion seat to “feel” the movie); or the Lego Store, with its 10-meter (34-foot) Lego Robot; or Nickelodeon Universe, an indoor amusement park with 30 rides and attractions designed for the entire family—assuming you have the courage to experience The Spiral, The Rock Bottom Plunge, The Splat-O-Sphere, The Log Chute, The Shell Shock, or The Shredder’s Mutant Masher. Or, you can fly over America in our nation’s first fully-immersive virtual flight simulator; catch a set at the House of Comedy; play indoor miniature golf; go bowling; manufacture your own crayons at the Crayola Experience; or release your inner scientist at The Works Museum of interactive engineering.

The Radisson-Blu offers free shuttle transportation from Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport (MSP) which is only 15 minutes away. Or, you can ride the Metro System Light Rail Blue Line from downtown Minneapolis to the Mall of America in 30 minutes for a cost of only $1.75 or $2.25 USD. If you’re driving, the Mall of America and Radisson-Blu are located on Killebrew Drive, adjacent to Interstate Highway 494 between the exits for 24th Avenue and Highway 77 (Cedar Avenue). There are two large, covered parking ramps at the Mall of America for your convenience.

This year’s scientific symposium offers another great line-up of International speakers and topics which you can read about in our Meeting Schedule web page. In addition, this year’s ISDVMA meeting will feature a special Friday evening Behind-the-Scenes veterinary tour and private reception at the Minnesota Sea-Life Aquarium, located inside the Mall of America. The Aquarium features a 100-meter (300-foot) glassed tunnel 4 meters (14 feet) beneath 5,000,000 liters (1.3 million gallons) of salt and fresh water. As you walk beneath the “ocean,” you will be surrounded by more than 10,000 marine organisms including sharks, sea turtles, jelly fish, and anemones. In addition, you can reach into the water to pet stingrays (detoxified), star fish, sea cucumbers and prawns. Our Behind-the-Scenes veterinary tour is worth one credit hour of continuing education and will give us access to the veterinary and water quality lab, the nutrition and feeding lab, and the overhead catwalks and disease isolation tanks. The reception which follows will be hosted by students from the Sled Dog Veterinary Medicine Club of the University of Minnesota’s College of Veterinary Medicine—the only such sled dog veterinary medicine club in the world!

For our Saturday night Gala Banquet, we will cruise the Mighty Mississippi River—the Father of Waters—on the luxurious Minneapolis Queen paddleboat. Relax with your international veterinary and mushing colleagues as we paddle and dine for three hours between the banks of North America’s most famous river. We’ll enjoy the Captain’s narration as we pass historic points of interest and panoramic views of the Twin Cities, background music, and delicious entrées of walleye fillet (Minnesota’s state fish), wild rice (Minnesota’s state grain), and locally-brewed beers and vinted wines.
This year’s 13th Biennial Meeting and Symposium has been designed with your entire family in mind. Plan to stay on in Minnesota for a few days beyond our long-anticipated gathering and enjoy all that our great state has to offer. You won’t be disappointed.

So, come for the education, but stay on for the astonishment. We’ll see you in September!